Trump Asks Supreme Court to Uphold Freeze on Billions in USAID Payments

Lawyers for the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to halt a lower court injunction and allow the government to freeze billions in foreign aid spending previously allocated by Congress.

Most of the nearly $12 billion in funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development USAID was cut by President Donald Trump shortly after taking office. (Photo: Professional Systems Engineering)

The move sends the issue of USAID funding back to the high court for the second time in roughly six months, Breanne Deppisch and Bill Mears reported for Fox News.

At issue is nearly $12 billion in funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), due by the end of the fiscal year in September.

Most of those funds were cut by President Donald Trump shortly after taking office, under his broader push to slash foreign aid and eliminate what he calls “waste, fraud, and abuse.”

U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued in the emergency filing that without Supreme Court intervention, the administration would be forced to “rapidly obligate some $12 billion in foreign-aid funds” by September 30.

Those payments have been tied up in litigation since January, when Trump signed an executive order blocking nearly all foreign aid spending.

The order was struck down earlier this year by U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, who ordered the administration to resume payments on billions of dollars in previously approved USAID projects.